Scones For Clothes, How Will Munro Taught Me To Be A Gracious Vegan

by scroungyglammer

The year was 1995 and I was an ersatz noise-punk / wannabe performance artist brat. A vegan-curious vegetarian , I had recently read Diet for a New America but felt inspired but lost. The vegans I did knew in town were involved in the punk/post-hardcore scene that I had spent my early teens in and was feeling increasingly alienated from. It seemed veganism was synonymous with anger and bad fashion. I’d get yelled at for my wearing my leather jacked at a venue that will remain nameless & it made me want to resist what I knew was right out of spite. I simply felt unwelcome in the club. Not only that but it seemed hard! Soy milk was a specialty product, only to be found at pricey health food stores and the only vegan cookbooks I knew of were photocopied and of the carbs ‘n grease school.

My friend Zoe and I had taken a week trip to Toronto , to shop , see gigs and do whatever else 17 year old girls will get up to in to the big city. She was friends with Will Munro (later to become a celebrated artist, dj and promoter before dying way too young ) and he let us crash on some mattresses in his basement. Will was COOL. He was pretty much the male version of what I wanted to be , a few years older and in art school he seemed like the perfect role model with his upbeat personality, glam style, extreme confidence and door covered in y-fronts. One night him and I ended up alone in his kitchen where he was making seitan. I’d never heard of seitan , much less ate ate it before that, and we started taking about recipes, food politics , animal rights and making tasty meals. “Win them over with food” he said. He made veganism seem easy and fun , the way he would make everything else seem. I was sold.

So in my 17 years of veganism that’s what I’ve tried to do. Make tasty treats and share them. Show that vegan can be tasty, that vegan food is not weird or gross or a substitute , that vegan food is “normal food” , show that as a vegan one isn’t excluded socially. Be a voice for the animals with superior baked goods and hope to normalize ethical veganism.

This weekend some friends of mine invited me to a clothing swap and I had next to nothing to bring. I recently donated all the shirts and jeans that Paxil sized me out after realizing that holding onto clothes I could no longer fit into was just bumming me out. I had a few spangly sweaters that hadn’t been worn in a few years and a small pile of unwanted accessories , not much to swap. So I dug up my copy of Vegan Brunch and made scones , 3 dozen of them and went on my way.

As the only vegan at the party there was no reason to mention the fact that my scones had no butter or eggs but as people snacked on them my friends would point me out and say “Chloe made those , she’s vegan.” No surprise that they were a hit , they are some damn good scones. And several ladies , all omnis asked for the recipe and I got a few exclamations of “These are vegan? No way!”

Normal , tasty accessible and I got a bunch of cool clothes out of it. Not so bad for this baketavist.

I refreshed my Envy manicure with some silver crackle to hide the chips and tip wear. It’s Funky Fingers in Silver Scales and I gripped it at Sally. No clue where to buy it in Montreal as we are in to uncivilized zone of no Sally OR Sephora.

I didn’t go naked , nor did I clean my kitchen after all that baking. My tee is reping Inyrdisk , noise/avant label extraordinaire. Vintage shorts from Cheap Opulance , vintage cardi gripped at the Mississauga Goodwill on Dundas (thanks to Sebastien for the heads up) , tights from the discount rack of love at simons (hello , I love you thanks for the 2$ tights), a billion random neck wares from various thriftys the world over & some vegan Docs. Earrings from H&M. My glasses are from Eye Glass Boy , check it out if you are looking for cheap vintage frames. These bitches cost me 100$ , postpaid including lenses. The glare from the camera was free and so is the fucked up look on my face.

But yeah , Isa’s cookbooks are the bomb. I wanna grip the pie one that came out recently. Hope there’s some gluten free crusts cause I have a few pals who are allergic and I’m shit at gluten free desserts as of now.

Hey Scroungyglamour… I’m Will’s older brother Dave, a friend just sent me your blog and I have to say it was very touching. It took me back to that kitchen and Will striping down work out/knead the gluten…it’s a very emotionally stirring memory and I thank you for taking me on a trip down a very happy vision from the past…dave

I’m glad. It was your brother’s BBQ gluten that made me make the leap. Years later when him and I reconnected through the art scene he influenced me to go for it as a fulltime artist. He was a super positive influence on so many peoples’ lives and will always be missed. xochloe